Here We Lay
by GraydonGirl
Summary: Rachel finally tells Brooke how she feels, but doesn't get the reaction she wants. In order to get her back, Rachel tries to make her jealous by having a new girlfriend. Who's willing to pretend to be Rachel's girlfriend and why? PACHEL femslash.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Here we lay_, still in my bed, no longer wearing clothes, and completely and totally out of breath. Yeah, sex before school is always good. I look over at the brunette lying in the bed beside me. The sheets are barely over her chest and the sweat is lightly glistening off her body. She smiles as she looks over at me. She gives me a quick peck on the lips and gets out of bed to get dressed. I sit up in my bed slightly as I watch her put her clothes back on, piece by piece.

"hey did you finish that English assignment?" Brooke asks.

"uh… nope" I answer. She puts the last article of clothing on and starts with her jewellery.

"Rachel, if you don't do your homework who am I supposed to copy off of?" she asks jokingly.

"hmm, well maybe you should start doing your own homework" I say and she replies with a loud scoff. "… or you know, you could always sleep with the teacher, you're pretty good at that" I smirk. 

"yeah, I know. But I don't think the teacher would take too kindly to me hitting on him. Plus he's like really… old" She says with disgust. I laugh a little. She's really cute sometimes. 

"yeah, well feel free to hit on me anytime" I say with a smirk as I slowly get out of bed, still naked, and start strutting over to her.

"I bet you'd like that" she says with her scratchy voice. God, I love her voice. I lean in for a kiss and she meets me half way. My arms go around her neck as her hands sneak around my waist and lower. She gives my ass a little squeeze causing me to squeal.

"alright, I have to get going, I'm meeting Lucas before school" She says swinging her bag on to her shoulder.

"right, the whole non-exclusive thing" I mutter. But she doesn't really hear me, not that she'd want to.

"Brooke, can I talk to you?" I ask before she leaves.

"sure, but make it quick" she says looking down at her watch.

"It's just… I…" should I tell her? I mean we're really just fooling around, but it means so much more to me. "you know what? Never mind, it's not that important. I'll just talk to you after school…"

"okay" she says in a bouncy way and heads out the door. I watch as the door slowly shuts and Brooke is completely gone.

"It's just that I love you…" I whisper to the empty room.

About 20 minutes after Brooke left I left too. I got in my Denali and drove off to school as if nothing ever happened this morning. One of the perks of being with Brooke Davis is the amazing sex we can have any time of day. The bad part is that no one knows, because she doesn't really want people to know. The worst part about all of this is that I'm in love with her but I don't think she feels the same way. 

I park my car as close to the school as possible and I make my way up the pathway. I see Mouth finishing a conversation with one of his friends. As his friend walks away I come up beside him and put my arm on his shoulders.

"hey Mouth"

"hey Rachel" he greets me. This guy is awesome. He's always there for me. Thank god we're over the part where he liked me.

"what's up?" I ask him. We walk by Lucas and Brooke and my eyes immediately meet hers. On the inside I'm smirking, but on the outside it just comes out like a death glare. Yeah, everyone still thinks we can't stand each other.

"are you and Brooke ever going to get over all of the fighting"

"don't take away all of my fun now, Mouth" I say as we head into our first period class together. I actually like this class, not because of the course though – hell I don't even know what this course is. But I like it because my best friend Mouth is in this class and so is Brooke. But she sits a few seats ahead of us with Peyton. She never looks back though.

The days usually go like this. She glares at me, I glare at her, we fight, we bicker, we ignore each other, we get back at each other. Then at the end of the day we end up having hot wild sex. All the tension that builds up during the day comes out at the end. And it's great… most of the time. But sometimes I do wish we were more.

That's why today I'm going to tell her. After school when we get back from cheerleading practise. Before our sex. No, wait. Maybe after our sex. Yeah, that's better. First things first, practise.

"5, 6, 7, 8" Brooke yells as we all move in unison to a routine she created. It's actually not that bad, but don't tell her that. About 10 seconds later I see Brooke stop everyone.

"Rachel, move that fat ass of yours faster!" she yells. Yes this is part of the bickering and arguing that comes around everyday.

"well you know, I've tried only living off of sex and alcohol, but it's not that easy. I just don't understand how you do it Brooke" I say getting back at her.

"I'll show you how I do it!" she yells as she throws her pom poms down to the floor and starts trudging towards me okay. But before she can do anything Peyton cuts in. Is it wrong that I'm totally turned on by this?

"okay okay, that's enough." Peyton says pushing us apart. I think she just grazed my boob. "practise is over, everyone go home. Brooke can I talk to you?" she asks.

"fine." Brooke replies angrily. "I'll see you later" Brooke says to me. I see her and Brooke walk away to their bags as I get mine and head out to my car. I get home about 5 minutes later and hop in the shower. About 15 minutes later I step out to see Brooke already waiting on my bed for me.

"well, well, well, if it isn't the Cheer Nazi" I say heading to my dresser to pull out some clothes. But before I can put anything on I feel Brooke come up behind me and put her hands on my waist.

"well maybe if you moved on beat I wouldn't have to yell at you" she says lightly kissing my neck. I turn around to face her and she smirks at me.

"hey, you _know_ I was on beat, everyone else was off"

"I know…" she says tracing the lining of the towel I'm wearing. "I just wanted to get you all riled up. You know it makes everything hotter." She says as she slowly pulls my towel off of my body.

"that it does" I say going in for a kiss. I push her towards the bed, but not before pulling off her Raven's practise t-shirt. She falls back onto the bed and I fall on top of her, not breaking the kiss once. Her hands slowly move up and down the sides of my body while I undo the button to her jeans. I slowly undo the zipper and within seconds her pants are thrown to the floor. I straddle her waist as she sits up so I can undo her bra for her. I throw her bra to the floor as she starts kissing my neck. She knows it drives me crazy.

"oh god" I breathe out heavily. Sex with a girl is so much hotter than sex with a guy. That's why I turned. But only Brooke knows.

She flips me over so that I'm on my back now. I take this opportunity to take off her last piece of clothing. Her panties come down and join the rest of her clothes on the floor. She goes back to straddling me at the waist and makes sure our centres come in contact with each other. We start moving in unison and moans are getting louder and louder.

"oh God, Rachel" she moans as we both get closer and closer to our climax. I add my hand into the mix to speed up the process and within seconds we're both going over the edge. She grips onto my body and her body tenses up from her orgasm. Her body falls down on top of mine and slides off to the side. We're both out of breath and it's just like this morning all over again. I lean over and kiss her lightly to show her how much it meant to me. She smiles at me and pulls the sheets over our bodies.

After a few minutes of just relaxing I finally get enough courage to tell her how I feel.

"Brooke?"

"mmm?" she asks, still a little tired.

"I need to tell you something…"

"what?"

"look you know, this is great… the fighting and the sex…"

"yeah, I noticed" she says with a smirk.

"but…"

"but what? You don't like our sex anymore?" she asks jokingly.

"no it's just that… this whole thing… our relationship"

"yeah, but we're not in a relationship" okay, that one kind of hurt.

"about that" it's now or never. "Brooke, I really like you"

"I like you too Rachel, despite what I say at school"

"no… I mean I really like you. You know, in that love kind of way." I can't bring my self to look at her, afraid of what she'll say. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm in love with you Brooke. And I know that you're with Lucas, sort of. But I can't help how I feel. I know all we do is have sex and what ever and it's great, it is. But I don't _just_ want to have sex, I want to be with you. Like for real…" I say in what seems like one breath. I finally look over at her to see a shocked look on her face. That's not a good sign. The next words out of her mouth will determine everything. 

"look, Rachel…" she starts. Those weren't the words I was looking for. She has that look in her eyes, the apologetic look. The one that I definitely don't want to see right now.

"no, that's okay. Um I-I have to be… somewhere" I say as I quickly get out of bed and throw some clothes on.

"Rachel, wait…"

I'm trying to hold back the tears, but it's not that easy. So I give her a sad smiles. "no uh, don't worry about it. I'll…I'll be back later. Bye" I whisper the last words and head out the door. I have no idea where to go, but all I know is that I have to get away from here, away from my thoughts… and away from her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I honestly don't know what's so great about this place. But it seems like everyone else comes here to think, so why not try it out. I'm down at the river court. Alone. And thank god for that, I don't think I could handle seeing anyone right now. Not after what just happened.

I knew I shouldn't have told her. I mean what good could have come from it. Besides the fact that she would have loved me back. Nothing, that's right. But the problem is where do I go from here? I mean Brooke's living with me since her parents are gone and I don't want things to get awkward between us. That would just make everything worse. But god, what do I do now that she doesn't love me? It's like what ever I do revolves around her. I just can't get her out of my head. The tears cascade down my face and I can't stop them. Maybe it's better not to stop them so I can just get them out of my head all together.

I'm about go get up and leave when I see a pair of head lights head towards the basketball court. Right now I'm pretty thankful I parked kind of far away. Out of the car I see two figures step out. And yeah, I'm sure you can guess who they are. It's Brooke and Lucas. 

I confessed my love for this girl no more than 30 minutes ago and she's already out with Lucas. That's great, really. I'm always full of sarcasm when I'm angry. It's just a habit. 

Before I get spotted I quickly get up and head to my car. As quickly as I can I start up my car and head back home. At least now I know that she won't be there.

I get home and quickly head up to my room and as soon as I sit down on my bed, the door bell rings. God I hope it isn't Brooke. Maybe she saw me leaving the river court. Let's just pray it's not her, I don't think I could handle talking to her right now. I open my door to see someone who definitely isn't Brooke.

"Peyton?"

"hey Rachel, she says with a small smile. She's fiddling with her keys and trying to smooth out her leather jacket. Yeah, you know something's up when you're trying to smooth out leather.

"is… uh… is Brooke here?" she asks. Great! If it's not Brooke at the door, it's someone who is looking for her. It's like the world revolves around this girl. But I guess I can't blame Peyton, she is Brooke's best friend. She's one of the few people who actually knows that Brooke is living with me. Basically it's just Brooke's close friends and my friend Mouth.

"no, I think she went out with Lucas or something…" I say leaning against the door. And then I do something stupid, I accidentally sniffle.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"fine" I reply trying not to make eye contact with her. One look at my blood shot eyes and she'll know everything. I just want to get Brooke out of my head.

"look, I was going to go out with Brooke, but seeing as she's out with Luke do you… maybe wanna get some ice cream or something" she asks. Oh god, Ice cream would be great right about now. It always fixes a broken heart. And seeing as we're out of ice cream… 

"you know what, that sounds pretty good actually" I say as I turn around to get my jacket. At this point I don't care if Peyton has seen my eyes. I just want to feel better. She gives me a genuine smile and we head out to her car. I've always liked her car. It fits her personality. The screwed up emo teenager with more problems than a soap opera. She plugs in her iPod while she's driving, and let me tell you that scared the crap out of me. Peyton's a bad driver as it is.

"Peyton watch the road!" I say as I have my death grip on the door handle.

"sorry, here why don't you pick out something" she says handing her ipod over to me. It's the smartest move she's made tonight. I turn on Something Corporate and let the music blast through the speakers. 

"you know, I didn't really take you as the emo cheerleader type. I didn't think anyone was that screwed up. Besides me of course" I say with a small smile. Might as well try to get along with her. God knows I need more friends as it is.

"well it's not like being a cheer leader was my dream or anything" she says.

"so, what? You just joined cause of Brooke?" so much for getting her out of my head.

"yeah, that and my mom was a cheerleader" I've heard about her mom. Or should I say moms. Yeah, that's a little screwed up. Even for her. I leave the conversation at that just because I don't know what to say. We get to the ice cream shop on the pier and get a couple of cones.

"wanna walk?" she asks. As she nods towards the board walk area.

"sure" we walk in silence for a few minutes until she finally starts talking.

"so are you going to tell me or am I going to have to pry it out of you?" she asks with a small smile. What is she talking about?

"your break up…" how did she-? "between the whole puffy red eyes and agreeing for ice cream it's pretty obvious."

She's pretty smart. "it's not really a break up. It's more-"

"-confessing your love for someone who doesn't feel the same way?" damn, she's good.

"yeah" I say looking down at my shoes. I'm really not one for talking about my feelings just ask anyone.

"so who is he? Anyone I know?" Peyton asks. Brooke's the only one who knows about me being gay. Brooke's not gay, she was just looking for a good time. Maybe now's the time that I start opening up to people.

"_she_, actually" I correct Peyton. She stops walking and I stop walking too. This is what it comes down to.

"really?" she asks doubtfully.

"really" I confirm. She starts walking again and so do I. 

"so then who is _she?_" she's surprisingly okay with this. But I kind of knew she would be. I mean, I heard about the whole 'dyke' thing last year. That's partly the reason I haven't said anything to anyone else yet. 

"it's actually Brooke" I say, not thinking about the repercussions. She stops walking again. At this rate we'll never get anywhere. I stop too and look at her. She looks back at me. 

"yeah, I'm actually not that surprised. Brooke's always been a wild child. So then what happened between you two?"

"ah, well you know… I loved her, she didn't love me. 20 minutes later she was out on a date with Lucas."

"are you serious?"

"as a heart attack" I nod.

"wow, I mean I knew Brooke was bitchy sometimes but I didn't think it was that bad."

"what ever, I should have expected it… Deep down I knew Brooke didn't love me. She was just in it for the sex"

"okay, too much information…" Peyton says covering her ears jokingly. I give out a little laugh. My first laugh since _it_ happened.

"so, you're okay with this? I mean finding out your best friend is sleeping with another girl isn't exactly normal."

"my life is far from normal" Peyton says. "but anyways, that's besides the point. What Brooke did was wrong"

"at least I'm not the only one to think so" I mutter so she can hear me.

"so do something about it"

"do what? What ever I do won't affect her. She's in love with Lucas, not me"

"Look, I've known Brooke for a long time, longer than most people have and I know that she gets jealous very easily."

"so what you want me to parade around with some other guy to get Brooke jealous?"

"guy? No. Girl? Yes."

"that's a great plan!" I say enthusiastically. "And it would work too if I was out and had a girlfriend! Too bad I don't! But thanks for reminding me anyways" I say with fake enthusiasm.

"so change that. I'm sure there's plenty of girls who would love t-"

"-oh my god they're here!" I say spinning Peyton around and hiding behind her.

"who?" like she needs to ask. Before I can answer she spots them. "okay, uh, this is probably not good for you…" no shit Sherlock. "but Rachel, you can't hide from her forever"

"you're right" I say looking over her shoulder. "just until graduation, after that we'll go our separate directions and never see each other again.

"Rachel…" she tantalizes me. 

"well what am I supposed to do?! Oh god! They're coming closer." It's just a matter of seconds before they spot us.

"okay, I can solve this" Peyton says.

"how?" I whisper. Just then Brooke looks over at us and sees me hiding behind Peyton. Without another word Peyton turns around and presses her lips to mine. Um… wow. How am I supposed to react to this? My lips are still pressed up against Peyton's and I open my eyes to see Brooke frozen in her place as she watches me kiss her best friend. 

Burn Bitch, burn!

Just to add to the fun I close my eyes again and let my hands tangle themselves in Peyton's blonde hair and pull her closer. Finally we pull back after what seems like forever and Peyton doesn't turn around.

"did she see?" Peyton whispers in my ear.

"oh yeah" I look around subtly and notice Brooke is no where to be found. "she's gone now" I say taking a small step back from Peyton.

"so…um… why…?" I ask not able to put a sentence together.

"like I said, what Brooke did was wrong, even I know that. Plus, some students still think I'm a lesbian anyways."

"you do realize what you've just gotten yourself into, right?"

"yeah, but it's alright. It's always worth fighting for love."

"alright come on then… girlfriend" I say lacing our fingers together. Peyton's a pretty good person for doing this for me. I mean we barely know each other but still she supports me over her best friend.

We make our way back to her car and we drive back to my place with a smile on my face. Maybe just maybe Brooke would get jealous and realize how much she needs me. Just maybe… 

We pull into my driveway and I spot Brooke looking out our bedroom window. I nudge Peyton and she looks at me.

"Brooke's looking" I whisper.

"well then let's give her something to look at" she says with a smile as she leans over and I meet her halfway for a long lasting kiss. We pull back slowly just to show Brooke what she's missing out on.

"are you going to be okay facing Brooke or do you want me to come up with you?"

"I think I'll be okay." I say getting out of her car. "thanks Peyton though for this whole thing… it's going to make it a lot easier with your help."

"sure thing…" she says and waves good bye as she pulls out of my drive way. I take a deep breath and head into my house knowing that upstairs Brooke is waiting for me.

I enter my bedroom, well _our_ bedroom and I immediately put my purse down on my bed. She's sitting on her bed watching my every move. But I don't say anything because I know it's killing her. I pull out some clothes from my dresser and head into the bathroom to change. I leave the door open about a foot so she can see me and how nothing bothers me. She gets up and pushes the door open and leans against the door frame,

"so you and Peyton huh?"

"what do you mean?"

"oh come on, I saw you down at the Pier, and in the drive way" she says. I mentally smile to myself. It's actually working.

"yeah, well I guess I found someone else to share my hot sex with" God knows it's the only thing I have left. 

"are you two a couple now or something?" she asks with bitterness in her voice.

"why does it matter to you? You don't love me" I say with my own bitterness back. I don't even look in her eyes when I said it. I'm too afraid of what she would think.

"well I just think you should know Lucas and I are officially dating now"

"that's nice. I just think you should know Peyton and I are officially dating too" ooh, good line. I push pass her towards my bed, I can tell she's angry.

"great" she says like she means it but it comes out in sarcasm.

"yea, it is" I confirm crawling under my sheets as she does the same in her bed. "you're happy, I'm happy, nothing could be better" unless I was with you.

"right, happy" she says angrily. Now I can go to sleep with a smile knowing that she still wants me. 

I wake up the next morning to the sound of my alarm clock. I take a quick shower and by the time I get out Brooke is just waking up. I'm about to put my clothes on when my cell phone rings. I answer it without thinking and I'm surprised by who's on the other line.

"hello?"

"hey"

"oh hey _Peyton_!" I say slightly louder than usual, just to piss Brooke off.

"she's in the room isn't she?"

"oh yeah" I reply. "do you mind if I…?"

"no, go ahead, have your fun" she says.

"oh Peyton" I giggle. I thought it would be fun to tease Brooke a little and I knew Peyton wouldn't mind. So I'm just saying random lines to make Brooke jealous. "no, I'm just wearing a towel… yeah it barely covers anything" I giggle. I can see Brooke's face turn red with anger. "I bet you would _love _that" I continue, trying not to laugh along with Peyton. "yeah, well I could get some chocolate syrup and whipped cream if you want… oh Peyton you're so dirty!" Okay, I can't take it anymore.

"okay, okay" Peyton says, calming down from the laughter. "look, I actually called you for a reason."

"oh and what is that?" I ask as I get dressed. Brooke's pretending to not pay attention to me, but I know she's eaves dropping.

"well since I am your quote-unquote girlfriend I was thinking I should take you out. I mean it is Saturday and all"

"oh, well I would_ love_ to go out with you today" I say loudly.

"you're enjoying this too much" Peyton says.

"yeah, I really am" I say with a smile. It's really a lot of fun to do this.

"okay, well I'll come get you in 10, cool?"

"alright, bye sweetie!" I say sweetly.

"I'm hanging up now" she says with a chuckle and hangs up. I close my phone and finish getting ready.

"well don't you two just sound like the perfect couple."

"hmm, hadn't really noticed" I say with a smirk. I get my bag ready, grab a fruit and by the time I finish I hear a horn honk outside. "well that's my ride" I say as I check my self in the mirror again and head out the door.

"later Brooke!" I yell. I head down stairs and run out to Peyton's car and give her a kiss seeing as Brooke is still watching through the window. It's fun making her jealous. Peyton pulls out of my drive way before either of us say anything.

"so how did it go?" she asks me.

"Great! I could have sworn I saw steam coming out of her ears this morning when we were on the phone." I say getting a laugh out of Peyton.

"she really is the jealous type" Peyton says.

"yeah… so where are we going?" I ask as I look around the streets that I don't recognize.

"oh um, well Brooke works on Saturdays so I was thinking we could go shopping at the mall"

"that's perfect! Peyton you are a genius!"

"I know" she says smugly.

"well aren't you little-miss-modest" I say pushing her lightly.

"hey, no pushing the driver!"

"right, cause you and I both know that you cause enough accidents on your own" I say with a smirk.

"okay come on! My driving is not that bad. Why does everyone always criticize me?"

"from what I heard, you almost ran Lucas over 2 years ago"

"oh… well that was one time!" she admits.

"yeah, well I'll let it slide since it was Lucas and all" I say. Yeah, I still hate him. Technically it's not his fault at all, it's just he fell in love with the wrong girl. He fell in love with _my_ girl.

"hey" Peyton said putting a reassuring hand on my leg. "stop thinking about the bad times. You're going to be happy. I promise, even if I have to make you happy myself." 

Before I could say another word we arrive at the mall and head inside. Most of the stores don't open for another 20 minutes so we just sort of walk around seeing what's here.

"want to check out the record store?" Peyton asks me.

"it's closed, everything's closed"

"come on" she pulls me with one hand. We walk over to the store and Peyton knocks on the folding glass doors. Someone on the inside opens it a crack and looks at us.

"Peyton!" the guy practically shouts.

"hey Peter, mind if we look around before you guys open?"

"nah, come on" he says opening the entrance a little more. This girl has connections, I'm surprised. We enter the store and look around a little.

"so how did you do that?" I whisper to her.

"oh uh, Karen always sends me down here to buy a few CDs for the club so we end up doing a lot of business together." She says as she shows me an album I think I might like.

"well Sawyer, you just knocked yourself up a notch on the cool belt" I say getting a laugh out of her. I hand her over an album I think she might like and she looks it over.

"wow that was… a really lame line" 

"hey come on, down criticize me when I compliment you!" I say bumping hips with her.

"okay, okay I'm sorry." She apologizes. I pick up another CD and look over the songs on the back. She grabs it out of my hands and puts it back.

"hey, I was going to buy that!" I complain.

"don't bother. I own it, I'll burn you a copy" she says as she heads over to the cash register. So I follow her.

"exactly how many CDs do you own?" I ask.

"like… 5" she says taking the CD out of my hand and putting it up on the counter with her own. "but I have 1034 vinyl records"

"holy crap! 1034?" 

"yep, I'm kind of addicted"

"so what's wrong with your ipod? Not enough space?"

"no I just like putting the record on and it playing all the songs straight through… that way you get a look at the whole album"

"hmm, never really thought of it that way." I answer. Before I know it Peyton receives the bag from her friend behind the cash register and we're heading out of the store. "wait. Did you just pay for my CD?"

"someone's a little slow" she says with a smile.

"you didn't have to do that. Actually, you shouldn't have done that. You're doing me this huge favour by pretending to date me and now you're buying me things? I feel like I owe you so much"

"Rachel, don't worry about it. It's actually fun doing all of this. I mean no one else besides Lucas has the same taste in music as me. It's actually a relief that I found you"

"you found me? Please, I found you" I say with a smirk.

"what ever Gattina" we walk out of the store and down the large hall.

"thank you though. I really appreciate it" I say back.

"alright, enough of the thank you's, lets go make Brooke jealous" she says as we see Brooke opening up for Suburban Filth. We grab each other's hands and lace our fingers together.

"hey Brooke" I say with a big smile plastered on my face. She turns around to see Peyton and I holding hands and her face immediately turns to annoyed.

"Rachel, Peyton, what's up?" she asks with a glare.

"nothing really… just hanging out" Peyton answered.

"yeah, speaking of, I didn't realize Peyton that you were into girls now" she says like she's doubting our relationship.

"oh, well, I'm not" I look over at her. What is she doing? "I'm just into Rachel" she says with a smirk. That's a good save.

"aw, well isn't that adorable. Picking up my left overs" she muttered but we all heard her.

"so Brooke, how are you and Lucas doing?" Peyton asks in a desperate need to change the subject. Usually I wouldn't want to talk about _him_, but we needed a different topic.

"great, actually" she says. I was kind of hoping for something more along the lines of, not so good, or we're struggling, or even we broke up yesterday. What? A girl can hope can't she?

"that's… great" I say back. I'm starting to hate that word now.

"so yeah, we better get going, we have a full day planned with each other" Peyton says.

"yeah, we just can't get enough of each other" I say as I pull closer to Peyton.

Brooke just nods at us, still not sure whether or not to believe our relationship. "well, hey, yeah don't let me keep you. But we should hang out tonight, all four of us. Me and Luke and you guys."

"like a d-double date?" I ask. Come on Rachel, now is not the time to stutter.

"yeah" Brooke lights up as soon as she sees me struggling for words. "just a nice night out for a couple of couples" she says eagerly.

"um, well we would, b-but…" 

"we'd love to" Peyton cuts in. And once again I shoot her a glare.

"great, then tonight how about we just all meet up at Karen's… say around 7:00pm?"

"we'll see you there" Peyton said bravely as I stand here struck with fear. Without another word Peyton pulls me away and I'm surprised my legs even work. As soon as we're out of hearing range I punch Peyton in the shoulder.

"ow! What the hell was that for?" she asks caressing her arm.

"a double date?! Are you crazy? It's hard enough not breaking down right in front of her, but now you want me to spend a whole night with her… and _Lucas_" I say through gritted teeth.

"okay, well if we had tried to get out of it she would have made us reschedule, or she would have caught on. Trust me, It's better this way"

"that's what you think!" I say hitting her again.

"okay, um… ow!" she says. "you're a really violent person, aren't you?"

"oh you haven't seen anything yet. Now march!" I say pointing to the exit. "we have to look good tonight to make Brooke jealous. Cause you and I both know our looks are the only thing that's going to be able to save us tonight"

"seeing as how you turn to jello around her, it's probably true" she says and I take this chance to hit her again, this time in the back of the head.

"ow! Okay! I get it!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"can't you drive any faster?" I yell at Peyton.

"do you really want _me_ to risk driving faster… with _my_ driving?"

"yeah you're probably right. In fact, slow down"

"okay, no. We're already 15 minutes late. We can't afford to lose anymore time" Peyton says.

"Well if someone didn't take sooo long in the shower…" I start off with a smirk.

"excuse me? You're the one who spent and hour in front of the mirror."

"I know, I just need to blame someone. Okay so let's go over this again. When I sneeze it means to compliment me. When I cough, it means change the subject. And when I brush my nose it means insult Lucas. Got it?"

"Rachel, do we really need all of these signs. I mean it'll probably be fine tonight"

"Peyton we're going to need all the help we can get, trust me"

As soon as we pull up to the café we jump out of the car and head over to the door. I look at the front door and wait for Peyton to come up beside me.

"well are you going to go in?" she asks me.

"are you going to open the door for me?"

"lazy" Peyton mutters jokingly and I smile as she opens the door for me and we walk in together. We look around and spot Lucas and Brooke already sitting in a booth, beside each other. They wave us over and we slide in. Peyton let's me go in first and then sits down beside us.

"wow, you weren't kidding Brooke when you said these two were… together" Lucas says as he demonstrates with his hands.

"no I wasn't…" Brooke said eyeing us. I quickly motion for a fake cough and Peyton catches on.

"So Luke, how's your mom doing?"

"good, you know she's working hard down here at the café and at Tric. By the way, how is Tric Peyton?"

"it's great. You know me, there's nothing I enjoy more than music, besides Rachel of course" She says as she puts her arm around me, sweet move Sawyer.

"Right…" Brooke starts. "so how did you two crazy kids get together anyways?" she asks as she leans in further on the table.

"oh, well uh…" I start but can't get anything out.

"I actually came over to see you Brooke, but then I ended up going out with Rachel for some ice cream and things just sort of fell into place" Peyton answers and I smile.

"if you think about it really, Brooke, you're the reason Peyton and I are together" I say placing my hand over hers. I knew that one hurt Brooke good, because I can see her glaring at me out of the corner of my eye.

Soon enough the waitress comes over and takes our orders. Us three girls gave our order and finally it was Luke's turn.

"um, I'll just have a salad" Lucas said handing over the menu to the girl. She wrote it down and I quickly brush my nose as a signal to Peyton. She shakes her head, as if she's not going to do it, but I nod my head back. She mouths the word 'fine' to me and turns to Lucas.

"So Luke, just getting a salad huh? Not man enough for some real food?" Peyton asks jokingly. I snort in laughter but try to hold it in. "I'm just joking Lucas" she adds with a smile. I'll have to use that signal more often.

"So Lucas, how's basket ball going?" I ask.

"fine. Practice everyday is kind of brutal, but at least I get to see my pretty girl every day too" she says as he kisses Brooke on the cheek. She smiles at him then smirks at me. Two can play this game. I give a quiet fake sneeze and Peyton gets the hint.

"mmm, Rachel, you smell so good" she says in a loud whisper. "and you just look so hot tonight" she adds in. I give her a kiss on the cheek, then looked back at Brooke.

"speaking of looking hot, Lucas I love this shirt on you" she says fixing his collar. I brush my nose with my finger and Peyton quickly retaliates.

"I don't know, I think his shirt kind of makes his lead look a little small"

This time I laugh but I just can't hold it in. Before I know it I sneeze for real this time. And I sneeze again. "Rachel, I love this necklace on you" she says tracing the outline of the beads that are very close to my chest. "and the matching earrings are just gorgeous" she whispers in my ear, actually making me shiver.

"Lucas I think you should cut your hair a little, it makes you look even sexier" Brooke says. I brush my nose again and Peyton smiles.

"maybe you should just shave it all off. Oh no wait, you did that already, it didn't really turn out too great, never mind."

Oh crap here comes another sneeze, like a real sneeze. "bless you" Peyton says. "actually god must have blessed me for letting me be around you" she says to me. Okay that was just plain sweet. I give her a soft smile and think about something.

"um excuse me for a minute… Peyton can I get out?" I ask. She gives a small nod and allows me to slide out. I head off in the direction of the bathroom, but right before I go in I catch Peyton's attention and jerk my head in the direction of the bathroom door. She gives me a small nod and I see she excuses herself from the table.

I wait for her in the bathroom and within seconds she's here.

"hey, so how great was that?" I ask her.

"I have to admit, it was kind of fun making fun of Lucas. But did I really have to compliment you that much?"

"sorry, actually, I was really sneezing"

"oh…" Peyton said laughing lightly.

"but it was great for me" I say with a small chuckle myself. "so do you think it's working?"

"um I'm not sure…" Peyton said poking her head out the door to see the couple. I go to check too but she snaps the door shut before I have a chance.

"what?" I ask.

"um, you know what would be fun? If we stick them with the bill! Why don't you go wait in the car and I'll-" something's up.

"-Peyton, what is it?" I cut her off. I try to get to the door but she blocks my way. I push her to the side and open the door a crack to see Lucas and Brooke making out in plain day light.

"oh my god!" I whisper. I can feel the tears start to burn my eyes. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere there she goes making out with her boyfriend. Damn him.

"okay, why don't you go out the back door and I'll meet you in the car" Peyton says pushing me out the door not even giving me a chance to say anything. Just as I'm heading to the car I can feel the tears slowly come down my face. I can't tell if I'm more angry or hurt. All I know is that I hate this feeling. Within seconds I see Peyton coming out of the front door. She gets in the car and we quickly pull out.

"what did you say to them?" I ask, trying my best not to sob.

"well first before I went out I smudged my lipstick a little and messed up my hair just to make it look like we were making out" Peyton says and I automatically smile thinking about what their reactions were. "then I told them you weren't 'feeling well' with finger quotes. So right about now they probably think we're having sex" This time I let out a small laugh and I can feel the tears slowly stop.

"I can't believe you did that" I say through laughs.

"hey well, we couldn't let them see you in tears now could we?" Peyton says handing me a tissue from her bag. I take it and wipe my eyes taking my make up off all at once.

"so what do we do now? It's obvious this whole making her jealous thing isn't working out as planned." I say.

"don't worry, I've got another plan"

"how come you always come up with the plans?"

"because I'm the brains in this project" she says with a smirk.

I scoff. "fine if you're the brains what does that make me?"

"the boobs?" she asks jokingly. I push her lightly, trying my best not to cause an accident. "okay, okay, you can be the beauty. Better?"

"I suppose" I say with a smirk of my own. "…so what's this plan B?"

"oh. Right. Well first things first, we're going out to cheer you up. Then… we go visit a friend of mine"

"if you say so…"

"_oh I say so_"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"you're brought me to a bar?" I ask looking up at the neon sign above my head.

"yes, but that's not even the best part" she says eagerly.

"uh oh…"

"tonight, just happens to be lesbian night!" Peyton says pushing me inside the doors. We enter the loud and dark room to see a ton of women all dancing, drinking and talking. This should be fun…

"um, I don't know about this…" I say trying to make a quick dash for the exit, but Peyton steps in my way.

"hey, you're gay, you're going to have to get used to it sooner or later"

"later sounds better"

"nuh uh, now come on. Let's gets some drinks"

We drop off our purses with the bartender and order a couple of drinks from the bar and grab a booth in the corner of the room. We take a seat and realize this is going to be so awkward.

"drink up Sawyer, because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to want to remember this night" I say taking waving over a waitress with more drinks on her tray. We take a couple more and down the jello shots we took. There is a lot more alcohol in those things than you think.

"okay, rules of the night: rule number one, dance with anyone who asks, rule number 2: have fun, rule number 3: if you see Brooke – run. And-"

"-Peyton, how many rules are there?"

"just one more, rule number 4: don't go home with anyone but me. I'm not picking up tomorrow from some random lesbian's house"

"fine" We both take another drink and before we know it there's a girl approaching the table.

"hey, want to dance?" she asks.

"um, sure" I say hesitantly.

"Actually I was talking to your blonde friend" she corrects me. Um ouch! Peyton smirks at me like she's all that.

"um, actually I was just kind of-"

"-rule number one, Peyton" I remind her. Mentally thinking she screwed herself over she nods her head and takes the hand of the pretty girl asking her to dance. They're out on the floor dancing, and well, look at her go. Peyton, really can dance. And I don't know why I'm surprised I mean she is best friends with Brooke.

Before I know it another girl approaches my table.

"hey there red, I saw what happened, I was wondering if you wanted to dance with me"

"I'm not looking for your pity" I say taking a sip of my actual drink.

"good, because I'm not giving you any. I just thought you looked hot" can't argue with that.

"alright then, let's dance" I say grabbing her by the hand and leading her to the dance floor near Peyton. Se gives me a little nod as she sees me dancing with my own little hot lesbian. I could get use to the whole gay scene. Through out the night Peyton and I end up dancing with a few more girls and having a lot more drinks.

So it's almost 11:00pm now and Peyton and I are completely smashed but still dancing. We're surrounded by a few other girls and we're all dancing in a big group and I have to admit this is pretty fun. I never took Peyton for a real party hard kind of a girl.

All of a sudden I feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist and pull me closer. It's one of the random girls I've been dancing with. Within seconds her lips are attached to my neck and her body couldn't get any closer if she tried.

I try pushing her off me well because I may be drunk but I know I don't want a one night stand with some random girl. As soon as I push her off she comes back, this time fully kissing me on the mouth. So I push her away again.

"get off" I mutter.

"oh come on" she says lightly drawing her fingers on my arm. She goes in for another kiss, but she's pushed away. But not by me. By Peyton.

"she said leave her alone!" Peyton yells over the music.

"who are you? Emo Barbie?" ha ha that's actually kind of funny.

"Rachel, go get our purses" she says so I go the bartender to get our bags and when I return I see Peyton and the girl arguing, but Peyton's got a full drink in her hand. I stand beside her and hand her, her purse. I'm getting a bad vibe from this situation.

"thanks babe" she says taking the bag and putting an arm around me. Now she's being my girlfriend? Where was this an hour ago when we came_ into_ the club?

"I think you need to step off" Peyton threatens the girl.

"or what? I'll kick your scrawny ass all the way to Timbuktu."

"it wouldn't matter if you could, because my girlfriend wouldn't going to settle for trash like you anyways" she says pointing a finger at her with her free hand. Peyton's actually a pretty good trash talker.

"what did you call me?" she asks pushing Peyton's hand away and taking a step closer.

"okay, calm down, let's just go back to having some fun" I say. "Peyton let's get out of here" I whisper into her ear.

"no I'm not leaving until this bitch apologizes for calling me trash!" the girl yells. Now we're drawing a crowd. Oh god, is that security?

"Peyton-"

"-what did you just call me?" Peyton yells back. Note to self never get into a bar fight with Peyton Sawyer.

"I called you a bitch! You and that skanky girlfriend of yours" whoa, whoa, whoa, what did she just call me?

"oh that's funny" Peyton says sarcastically. "well at least I have a girlfriend. I don't have to go around to bars trying to pick up other girls like _some_ sluts" oh shit, Peyton is really provoking her.

"that's it" she girl says and slaps _my_ girlfriend across the face. I can't take it anymore, so I slap her back, and Peyton dumps her drink all over her. She just stands there as she lets Peyton poor the drink on her too. I never understood why people don't move in situations like these.

Speaking of moving, I do believe that is security and the owner of the bar coming our way.

"Peyton, run!" I yell. She sees what I see and we both make mad dash for the exit. We run out the doors pushing passed everyone and down the street. We see the bar owner, a security guard and one pissed off lesbian standing at the door as we run away. We can't stop laughing, but we know we have to get as far away from there as possible. We turn the corner just to get out of their view. We finally stop and take a breath, and keep laughing.

"oh my god, I can't believe you threw your drink on her!" I say through tears of laughter.

"me? I can't believe you slapped her"

"well _she _slapped _you_"

"_well_ she was hitting on you"

"well… it's a good thing we were there for each other then, wasn't it?""

"it was" she answers me.

"so, uh, how do we get home because we're too drunk to drive, plus your car is back at the bar, and I don't see any cabs around here"

"yeah… Tree Hill doesn't have too many taxis."

"so?"

"hold on, I'll call someone" she says and pulls out her phone.

10 minutes later we're picked up by a rather small, old car with a handsome brunette in the front seat.

"alrlght, get in" he says.

"Jason!" we both yell at the same time and start laughing.

"it's Nathan" Nathan corrects us.

"thanks Jason, we owe you" Peyton says patting him on the head, she's a fun drunk. We walk around to the passenger side and I get in the back seat while Peyton gets in the front seat.

"why do you smell like liquor?" he asks as he starts driving.

"oh…" Peyton says with a small chuckle. "must have got some on me when I dumped it all over that angry lesbian"

"but it wasn't her fault" I defend her from the back seat.

"the angry lesbian slapped her, so I slapped her back, and it all just kind of happened _really_ fast" I slur out. God I am so wasted.

"what the hell did you guys do tonight?" Nathan asks. Yeah, from where he is I bet this sounds like a completely crazy story. "what ever, I probably don't want to even know… I'm just going to take you guys home"

Half an hour later we stumble into Nathan and Haley's apartment still drunk. Peyton trips over her own feet and I can't help but laugh out loud as she falls to the floor. That girl is crazy.

"shh, Haley's sleeping" Nathan whispers as he helps Peyton up. All of a sudden the lights turn on and Peyton and I look up, because we sure as hell know Nathan didn't turn them on and neither did we.

"what's going on?" a mysterious voice asks.

"God?" I ask. Peyton just bursts out laughing. What? that could totally be god. Oh wait, its Haley. Aww look she's in her little pink Pyjamas. She looks like she's 10 or something. Well maybe a really tall 10 year old, what ever.

"hey babe, sorry. Peyton called me to pick them up from a bar" Nathan says.

"are you guys drunk?" she asks, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"no" Peyton and I answer at the same time, we can't help but let out a little giggle together. Damn, we are so synchronized tonight. We try giving each other a high five, but fail miserably as our hands don't even touch each other's.

"wait, so why are they here? In our home." Haley asks.

"well I didn't know where Rachel lives and she got as far as telling me 123 Fake Street, then realized it wasn't her home. And Peyton couldn't remember Rachel's address either. And I didn't really want to leave Rachel at Peyton's house. Alone." Nathan explains.

"fine" she lets out a sigh. She goes to the closet and pulls out a couple of blankets. Nathan leads us to the couch and Haley tosses the blankets on top of us.

"good night guys" Haley says tiredly.

"good night Haley" we say together.

"good night ladies" Nathan says.

"good night Jason" we say together again and laugh out loud. Ah, that Jason is a funny guy.

I wake up to the familiar scent of bacon and open my eyes. Oh my god, huge mistake! My head is killing me. Ow! Freakin hell! I try to push my upper body up to see where I am when I hear a groan from underneath my hand. Oh, I accidentally pushed my self up with Peyton's head. My bad.

I sit up, or at least try. But for some reason, my upper body is on the floor while my legs are up on the couch. Don't laugh. Peyton's in the same position. I slowly try to stand up and I look around to see Haley cooking breakfast

"Haley?" I ask, why Haley here? Where is here?

"morning Rachel" so it is her.

"what am I doing here?"

"well I'm still not entirely clear on that, but as far as I know you and Peyton got drunk last night and ended up coming here"

"and here is?"

"my apartment"

"oh" I say getting up and sitting on one of the stools.

"so what did happen last night?"

"trust me, if I remembered it all I would tell you" I say getting a small laugh out of her. Within a few minutes Peyton finally gets up and finds her way over to the stool beside me.

"what about you? Do you remember last night?" Haley asks.

"parts of it" Peyton replies.

"well it sounds exciting so try and piece it together for me" Haley says.

"alright, well it started and ended in a lesbian bar" I start and Haley automatically looks up at us, shocked.

"right, then next were some drinks and jello shots" Peyton adds.

"and then Peyton was dancing with a girl, then I was dancing with a girl" I say.

"then there were some more jello shots" Peyton says.

"oh, then there was that other lesbian" I say flashing back to that bitch. Ugh.

"oh no" Haley says fakely.

"no, Hales you don't get it. This lesbian… was like a super lesbian" Peyton says making Haley laugh harder.

"what? Did she have 3 boobs or something?"

"no but she had an attitude" I say.

"let's just say a couple of people got slapped and someone was doused in my drink and it wasn't us" Peyton says pointing to us.

"well, I'm never going out with you guys to the bar… just one question: why were you at a lesbian bar in the first place?"

"oh well, see… we need your help _oh wise one_" Peyton starts with a smile, but I can already see Haley role her eyes. I guess this was Peyton's expert.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"oh god, what now?" Haley asks.

"look, we need your help" Peyton directly says.

"We? Since when are you guys friends anyways?" she asks.

"actually, it's a little more complicated than that…" Peyton says as she glances at me. I know if I want her help I'm going to have to tell her.

"okay, look, it's like this… I was sleeping with Brooke, then I fell in love with her, I told her but she doesn't love me back, instead 20 minutes after she broke my heart she went on a date with Lucas, and then Peyton came up with this plan to help me get her back. She suggested I date someone to make Brooke jealous, and then Peyton ended up being my pretend girlfriend. So we went on a double date with them and it was going good until they started making out and I broke down in tears. Then we hit the club and next thing I know we're waking up in your home asking for your help" I spit out. Haley just stands there in shock.

"so will you help us?" Peyton asks.

"uh… I… um… you sai-… wow." she finally says.

"yeah" Peyton and I say at the same time. Haley lets out a heavy sigh and looks back and forth between us. She walks over to the kitchen area and we follow. She goes to the fridge and takes out 3 beers. We all sit down and grab one. I guess it's never too early to drink.

"okay, so start from the beginning…" she says.

So we've been sitting here for hours still trying to get Haley to understand my dilemma.

"so then you two are pretending to date to make Brooke jealous?"

"yes!" Peyton and I say at the same time.

"and you're gay?" she asks me. I think I see the light bulb.

"yes" I say like it's obvious.

"okay so just one question… why do you want _my _help?"

"well" Peyton starts. "I kind of figured you know how to win someone back since you got Nathan back and all"

"yeah, but that took a lot of time…"

"so? I've got nothing but time…" I say. "please Haley, I really love her I would do anything to get her back"

Haley looks at Peyton who just looks at her back. "alright, if this is what you want…" she says.

Just then to door opens up and in comes Haley's husband.

"Haley I'm ho-" he starts but then sees the crowd in his kitchen. "oh hey ladies" he says with a smirk. Oh god, he remembers last night. "do you guys need a ride home or do you still forget where you live?"

"shut up" we say together.

He laughs. "sorry, couldn't help my self. So I'm surprised you guys are still here. What's going on?"

"Rachel's gay and trying to win over Brooke's heart" Haley says like it's nothing.

"Haley!" Peyton and I both scold her.

"what? I'm not about to lie to my husband." She says sitting back down.

"wow" Nathan says.

"get lost Nathan" Peyton says.

"hold on, I'm just trying to picture this" he says staring off into mid-air with a huge grin on his face.

"get out of here!" Haley says pushing him away.

"okay, okay I'm gone!" he says throwing his hands up in the air.

"oh and don't tell anyone about this! Especially Brooke or Lucas" I yell for reassurance.

"yeah, yeah" he says from the bedroom.

"okay, so back to the topic at hand. What do I do?" I ask Haley as I take a swig of my beer.

"okay, if we're going to do this we're going to do it right" I already like the sound of that. "First thing, when ever Brooke sees you, you have to look good, and I mean, good, but I'm sure you can take care of that. Two, when ever Lucas and Brooke are around you always have to upstage them and do something to make it look like you're always having fun. But you don't want to make it look like everything's perfect. If everything's perfect, Brooke will think you don't want to get back with her. So make it look like you two fight or something…"

"should I be taking notes?" I mutter to Peyton, she just smiles back at me.

"finally, if she doesn't want you and your perfect life, you go for the sexual innuendos." Haley says.

"ooh, now I'm _really _interested" I say eagerly. Everyone knows I like sex.

"yeah okay, if the other stuff doesn't work, you need to have Brooke 'accidentally' over hear you two or walk in on _something_. Cause like you said before you guys were sleeping together, and I suspect it was good and all, since you did it a lot" Haley says. So true. "so make sure she catches you in the act…"

"and what happens if none of it works?" I ask.

"find someone else to be in love with…?" That didn't really help. I give her the 'look'. The look that says 'that wasn't funny', and she knows it.

"don't worry, Rach" Peyton tells me as she rubs her hand on my back soothingly. "things will work out" They better, for all the trouble I'm going through.

"if you say so…"

"alright, come on we better get going." Peyton says grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the door.

"you know Peyton, Brooke's not around, you don't have to hold my hand" I say looking down at our clasped hands and then back up at her face.

"oh right… sorry" she says as she slowly lets go. "thanks for your help Haley, we'll see you later"

"yeah, thanks again Haley, I really appreciate it" I say to her honestly. I do appreciate it.

"sure, keep me updated though. You guys are like my own personal soap opera." We all share a small laugh and Peyton and I get ready to leave.

"hey Nate, want to give the girls a ride to their car?" Haley yells to Nathan.

"yeah sure" we hear back.

About 20 minutes later Nathan's dropping us off back at the bar and we're pretty happy this place is closed during the day. We get into Peyton's car but not before we say good bye to Nathan. We drive up beside is car and lean over on Peyton's side.

"Bye Jason!" we sing out together and laugh as we take off. Drinking isn't always bad.

"hey, do you want to grab some food before we head home and all?" we didn't actually eat at Nathan and Haley's, we were too busy talking about the plans and all. I can't believe that we just wasted a few hours explaining everything to Haley. I thought she was smart.

"yeah, sure that sounds great. I'm starving" considering I haven't eaten breakfast, lunch or dinner.

"cool, let's head down to see if we can find something near the pier."

"pizza?"

"nah, too many carbs" I answer as we continue to walk down the pier trying to decide what food to eat.

"hm, cotton candy?"

"for dinner?"

"why not?" she asks me.

"how about the fact that it's pure sugar?"

"what do you have against sugar?"

"it's not me, it's my teeth!"

"oh what ever" Peyton says pushing me a little. I smile and push her back a little harder.

"did you just push me?"

"no, actually, I believe it was that garbage can over there" I say being the sarcastic person I am. So she pushes me again. And once again I push her back a little harder. This time she pushes me again, only I lose my balance and trip over the curb thing. I fall back and hit the floor. Hard.

"ow! What the hell, Peyton!?"

"oh my god, I am so sorry!" she says as she crouches down beside me. "I didn't mean to!"

"some girlfriend you are…"

"is anything hurt, did you bang your elbow or something?" she starts freaking out. I mean come on, I just fell over.

"no I think I'm okay" I say as I brush my self off and attempt at standing. But there's this problem. There seems to be an excruciating pain in my ankle.

"OW!" I scream loudly causing Peyton to jump back. "oh my god! Ow, my ankle!"

"I thought you said you were okay"

"I lied" I say sarcastically. "good job Peyton, you broke my ankle!"

"what?" she shrieks. "first of all, it was an accident, second of all, it's probably not even broken, just sprained. Does this hurt?" she asks lightly touching my ankle.

"no"

"okay, how about now?" she asks putting a whole lot of pressure down.

"ow!" I yell again.

"okay, well I've come to the conclusion there is something wrong with your ankle" she says. I could have come up with that myself. In fact, I did.

"oh, gee, thanks Dr. Sawyer. I don't think I would have been able to figure that one out with out you here by my side" I comment sarcastically.

"well, what are girlfriends for?" she says rhetorically with a smile.

"Well I can tell you what mine is for. She's going to buy me and ice cream and carry me back to the car"

"Aw, crap" She helps me stand up and turns around. "alright, get on" she crouches down and I hop onto her back, trying not to step on my ankle. As soon as she gets her balance we walk over to the ice cream shop and I pick out a flavour.

"hey, Rach, I think there's a five dollar bill in my back pocket, can you get it?" she asks.

"I bet this is just a ploy for me to touch your ass" I say reaching into the back pocket and paying for the ice cream.

"trust me, if I really wanted you to touch me I would have put my money in my front pocket" she tells me and carries me to the car. "you know… I bet you can walk you're just too lazy to even try"

"probably" I shrug.

"you know, it wouldn't kill you to lose a few-"

"-finish that sentence and you'll find yourself waking up in a wooden box, six feet under the ground" I threaten.

"okay, wow. Body issues"

"I _do not_ have body issues"

"yeah, what ever." She says with a smirk. I'd push her but then we'd both probably end up hurt.

"hey be nice, you're the one who broke my ankle!"

"sprained" she corrects me. "plus I'm carrying you to _my _car, where _I _will drive you home. So I think you're the one that should be nice. I mean I could just leave you here to fend for yourself"

"fine" I sigh. "ice cream?" I offer her nicely. She takes a lick of my ice cream and I continue to eat. This is actually pretty nice. Sharing an ice cream with my girlfriend down on the pier while she carries me in the light of the sunset. Given, she bought the ice cream out of guilt, she's my fake girlfriend, she broke my ankle, and we still haven't eaten dinner. But besides that… this is nice.

We're driving back to my place, well because it's getting later, and I'm sure Peyton's getting tired of me. We start heading in the direction of my house and we start to slow down but we see Lucas' tow truck sitting outside the curb.

"great, now I have to sleep on the couch too" I say mindlessly to Peyton. But instead of slowing down the car Peyton speeds up. "what are you doing?"

"I'm not going to subject you to listen to those two all night. You can crash at my place tonight." She says.

"Peyton, really, it's okay, I don't mind sleeping on the couch"

"yeah, that's not the part I'm worried about. It's more you having to see Lucas in the morning when he leaves." The girl makes a good point.

"but I don't want to put you out or anything…"

"Rachel, I live alone in a two story house. You're not putting me out"

"but-"

"-stop. You're staying at my place tonight and that's final" she says forcefully. Who am I to argue with such kindness?

We go to her house, and I don't think I've ever been here. It seems nice on the outside. We go inside and completely ignore the main floor as we head up the stairs. Of course she carries me, which is actually pretty funny to watch her struggle up all of the stairs. We walk straight forward to the first door on our right and we enter her lair. Not so surprisingly it's black and red with drawings every where. And there are her shelves full of records. Wow, there are a lot.

"you weren't kidding when you said you had a lot of records" I say as she puts me down gently on her bed.

"nope." She says grabbing some clothes from her closet and coming out and throwing them at me. "here, you can sleep in these tonight. I'm going to get changed in the bathroom. You can changed in here" she says and leaves the room. I quickly get change and take this chance to really look at her drawings. They're so simple, yet have so much thought put into them. I follow them along the wall and they're all great. There's one for practically every phase in her life. There's one for her loved ones who leave her. There's one for Jake, and one for the time when she and Brooke fought over Lucas. I follow them to the desk where I see her pens scattered about and a closed folder. Curiosity gets the better of me and I slowly open the folder.

"not those!" a voice shouts from behind me. I jump and let the folder close back shut without even getting a glimpse. I turn around to see Peyton walk back into the room, changed into her PJ's.

"sorry, I didn't mean to-" I start, but she cuts me off.

"-it's okay" she says. "it's just… that ones not really done"

I take a step back and watch as she takes the folder and puts it in the top drawer of her desk. She turns back around to me and just smiles.

"so I'm going to go sleep on the couch…" say what now?

"what? No, Peyton. I'm not going to make you sleep on a couch in your own home. I'll sleep on the couch" I say.

"no, it's cool really. What kind of host would I be if I let my guest sleep on the couch" she argues back. This is getting ridiculous. "you take my bed"

"how about we both take the bed?"

"… sure" she says with surprisingly large smile. I think she wanted it all along. She turns off the light and we both get into the bed, under the sheets.

"Peyton, can I ask you something?" I ask softly.

"might as well do it now, because I don't think I'm going to answer in my sleep"

"why are you doing this for me?"

"you shouldn't have to sleep on the couch" she replies, but that's not really what I meant.

"no, I mean why are you doing _this_? _All of this_. Like pretending to be my girlfriend and making Brooke jealous. I mean I know you two are close so why would you choose me over your best friend?"

I can feel her body tense up a few inches away from me. But she finally answers. "let's just say if things work out, I can be with someone I love too…"

It takes me a second but I figure it out. I should have seen this a long time ago. I mean it totally makes sense with all the history and all. Yeah, Peyton is in love with… Lucas. Just think about it. She helps me get with Brooke, Brooke breaks up with Lucas and he's all hers. It's a pretty smart plan actually. I knew something was up.

"thanks Peyton, I have to say, you're the best fake girlfriend I've ever had."

"I'll take that as a compliment" we giggle a little and the next thing I knew sleep had over come me.

"Rachel… Rachel, wake up Rachel…" I hear a soft voice talk to me.

"Brooke?" I murmur.

"are you serious?" a harsher tone asks me. "I let you sleep in my bed and you call me Brooke?" I crack open my eyes to see Peyton trying to wake me up.

"oh god! Sorry Peyton, I was just…"

"dreaming about Brooke? Yeah, I kind of figured."

"sorry" I repeat.

"yeah no big deal, but you have to get up now" she tells me throwing my clothes at me.

"why?"

"cause Brooke's here" she says calmly.

"what?!" I yell.

"shh, now come on. Get dressed" she says as she gets dressed too. She looks out the window to where I'm guessing Brooke is. She stops for a second to listen. I stop with her just as I'm taking my top and pants off. We hear the door shut and foot steps coming up stairs.

"shit!" Peyton whispers. She forgets about changing and heads to her TV stand to pull something out. "remember what Haley said?" she asks me, tossing my clothes away, leaving me in nothing but a bra and panties.

"yeah" I whisper back.

"okay, well we're skipping to number 3." She says and pulls out something. Holy crap, I never thought Peyton would have one of these!

"I can't believe you have one of these!" I say in a normal tone so that Brooke could hear us outside the door.

"It's just something to do when I'm alone, you know." Peyton says slightly louder than usual.

"I didn't think you were into these kind of toys, Peyt"

"I'm surprised _you_ don't have one" she says as she hooks it up.

"how do you work it?" I ask with a smile.

"well first, why don't you have a seat and I'll show you how to work it"

"chair or floor?"

"floor would be best" she answers. "now all you have to do is turn on a little music, press the buttons and _enjoy_."

I start playing with it and it actually is fun. "you're doing pretty good for your first time" Peyton comments.

"thanks, but I think I want to watch you to go _solo_ for a few minutes, let's see what you got Sawyer."

"alright, you asked for it" I hand it over to Peyton who's actually surprisingly good at it. We both smile at each other knowing Brooke's listening outside the door.

"wow Peyton, you _are _good at this!" I say trying not to laugh. "again!" I yell. Now it's time to have some fun. "faster Peyton, faster! Just like that! You're almost there! Come on you can do it! Just one more time!" I'm practically yelling as loud as I can.

"so close!" Peyton yells in a sultry voice. Before we know it Brooke busts in through the door.

"what the hell is going on here!?" she yells at the top of her lungs. She sees me and Peyton on the floor in our bras and panties playing with our little toy.

"oh hey Brooke" Peyton says with a smile.

"want to play some Guitar Hero?" I ask holding up the plastic guitar we've been playing with for the passed 10 minutes.

"and then Rachel help up the guitar and asked Brooke if she wanted to play some Guitar Hero" Peyton said bursting out laughing with the rest of us. We were over at Haley's to inform her about what happened. We just couldn't resist.

"wow, I can't believe you guys did that!" Haley said gripping on to her sides that were in pain. "okay, so how did she react?" Haley asked, as she started to calm down.

"well first she turned red in embarrassment" Peyton said.

"But besides that she didn't really say anything, she just kind of took off"

"yeah, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Peyton asks.

"um, not sure, but it's probably a good thing. I mean if she didn't care she probably would have stuck around and joined you two. It's obvious Brooke's not comfortable around you guys. If she was she wouldn't mind you two being together and everything."

"nice" I say and I high five Peyton. "so what next?"

"well since you skipped to step 3, why not go back to steps one and two? Go around, have some fun in front of them and act all cute and what not. In fact, Nathan and I will help."

"how?"

"Nathan!" she yells into the apartment.

"what?" we hear an annoyed Nathan yell back. Aw they sound like an old married couple, that is so cute!

"get dressed, we're going down to the beach!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Hey, I kind of forgot to tell you guys that this is a pretty short story, after this chapter I think there's like 2 left. So I might be updating a little slower, but I hope you still like it ******

So we're down at the beach and it's just the seven of us. Nathan and Haley, Brooke and Lucas, me and Peyton and of course we couldn't forget about Mouth. We kind of had to fill him in on everything on the car ride over. We're going to need all the help we can get.

"so that's why you never went for me when I liked you…" Mouth concluded.

"yeah… that's why" I say unconvincingly. But only Peyton, Nathan and Haley catch it. We're all driving over in my Denali down to the beach.

"okay so basically the plan is to make me and Peyton the 'it' couple, got it?" I ask the whole car. They all reply in their own murmurs.

"what do we get out of all of this?" Nathan asks.

"uh… a ride home" I say like it's obvious. Before we know it we're at the beach and Lucas and Brooke are already down at the Scott beach house. We walk around to the back and see Lucas and Brooke already sitting out on the beach. We drop our stuff down on the deck and all head down there to join them.

"hey guys" Lucas says. "did you bring your bathing suits?"

"yeah, we changed before we came down" Haley said, taking off her shirt to reveal her bathing suit underneath our clothes. I see Brooke's already in her small bikini. Damn her for looking that good in such small clothing. But then I see Peyton out of the corner of my eye. And let me say she looks hot too. She could give Brooke a run for her money. I see everyone around me changing and then I see Brooke staring at me. Haley nudges me subtly and I take the hint to start undressing. I take my time pulling off my top and wiggling out of my jeans. I can tell Brooke's almost drooling.

I smirk at her and toss my clothes to the side without breaking eye contact. The next thing I knew Mouth came up behind me and slipped something into my hands. "try using this" he whispers without Brooke hearing. I look down to see a bottle of sun block in my hands. Good old Mouth.

"Peyton, could you must some sun tan lotion on me. please?" I ask Peyton, but still looking at Brooke.

"Sure" Peyton agrees and comes over behind me. She squirts some in her hands and starts rubbing my back, and then my shoulders and then up and down my arms. I grab her hands and bring them to just above my chest, but below my neck.

"don't forget here" I say to her, but loud enough for Brooke to hear. With a smirk Peyton starts rubbing the top of my boobs.

"thanks baby" I say as I give her a kiss on the cheek as a thank you. The girls all head over to get some tanning in while the guys play catch with a football. Lying on the ground it's Haley, then me, then Peyton, then Brooke at the end.

"what now, Haley?" I whisper.

"um go inside to get a drink or something and wait to see if Brooke follows. And if she does it's probably because she wants to kiss you, but don't let her. Not now"

"okay" I whisper back and get up. "well I'm just going to get a drink from inside? You girls want any?" I ask the girls. They all decline and I head inside. Just as I'm entering the door, I subtly turn around to see Brooke getting up from her place.

(no POV)

"hey guys I think I _am _going to get a drink actually" Brooke announces as she heads towards the house. Haley and Peyton just nod as they watch the brunette take her leave.

"so…" Haley starts.

"what?" Peyton asks.

"hm? Oh nothing…" Haley says carelessly.

"I know you want to say something, so just say it"

"just…. Just be careful Peyton"

"what's that supposed to mean?"

"oh I think you _know_ what it means…"

_With Brooke and Rachel…_

I open up the fridge door to grab a bottle of water and as soon as I close it I see Brooke standing right in front of me.

"Jesus!" I yell in shock.

"call me Brooke" she says smugly as she reaches by my into the fridge to get her own water, purposely brushing my boobs along the way.

"you know, I could have just gotten a water for you" I say leaning back on the counter and taking a sip of my bottle.

"yeah… but then we wouldn't have some time alone" she says taking a step closer to me. It's working, the plan is actually working!

"now, why would we need any time alone?" I ask, playing the dumb blonde.

"well I could think of a few reasons" she says putting her bottle of water down and placing her arms on either side of me on the counter top. Remember: don't let her kiss you. Oh, but I want to so badly.

"well feel free to kiss me Brooke…" I say in a sexy tone. She smirks and slowly leans in but just as she is inches away from my mouth I stop her. "… after you break up with Lucas, that is" I say and walk back outside. At least I know she wants me now.

I head back outside with a smile on my face and down to my pretend girlfriend and other friends.

"and?" Haley asks.

"it worked" I sung out in a tune.

"what worked?" Peyton pipes in.

"Brooke tried to kiss me" I say with a huge grin. "but I didn't let her… not yet"

"oh" Peyton replies. Before another word is said Brooke comes back out of the house looking furious.

"Lucas!" she yells angrily. We all see Lucas freeze in his place, just about to throw the football. He slowly turns to his girlfriend and knows that she is not in a happy mood. She waves him over and talks to him quietly so the rest of us can't hear. We see him give a nod and Brooke turn and walk back to the beach house.

"what was that about buddy?" Haley asks her best friend.

"oh, Brooke isn't really feeling too well, so we're going to take off. We'll see you guys tomorrow at school" he says and follows in Brooke's direction. As soon as Lucas is gone everyone turns and stares at me.

"what?" I ask out loud.

"you kissed her didn't you?" Nathan asks me. How could he accuse me of such a thing.

"no! of course not…" I say. "almost though…" I mutter.

A while after Brooke and Lucas left we all joined seeing as it was Sunday and we had school tomorrow. We dropped everyone off at their place and it was just me and Peyton heading over to her place.

"so today went pretty good" I say as I park outside of her house.

"yeah I'd say so…"

"you're just saying that because you got to touch my chest" I say jokingly.

"oh, you caught me" she replies sarcastically. "so what happened with you and Brooke?"

"she tried to kiss me" I say proudly.

"even though she has a boyfriend?"

"yep. I think I may actually have a chance at winning her over. All I have to do is work a little harder and soon enough she won't be able to resist me."

"okay so listen about tomorrow I think we should talk about it"

"you're right… do you think maybe I should let her kiss me tomorrow or is it too soon?" I ask.

"Rachel, you're kind of forgetting one thing…"

"what's that?"

"you're still not out. I mean, you've come out to like 5 people, but that's it. Do you really want to go public with everything?"

Shit, I never really thought about it. I don't know how people are going to react, but then again, Brooke might not want to be in a relationship with me if I'm not out yet. Maybe I should come out, I mean if people accept me then Brooke will see it's not bad and maybe she will fall for me like I fell for her. But then again, what if they don't accept me, that could put a whole new spin on things.

"Rachel? You still with me?" oh shit, Peyton's talking.

"uh, yeah sorry about that. Just zoned out."

"so what are you going to do?"

"… what do you think I should do?" why not ask my pretend girlfriend.

"um, well if I were you I would go for it."

"I don't know Peyton, I heard what happened to your locker…"

"oh that? No, that's a totally different story, that guy was an ass and got kicked out of school"

"yeah, but I still don't know if people will or won't have a problem with it. I don't want to do this alone"

"well you don't have to. I'll be here with you. I mean what kind of girlfriend would I be if I wasn't there to come out with you?"

"a pretty shitty one"

"exactly. So tomorrow, what do you say? Me and you, hand in hand, walking down the halls of Tree Hill High, conquering all."

"I think… that sounds pretty good." I give her a smile and she smiles back.

"alright then" she says as she grabs my hand. "it's all about me and you tomorrow babe" She sends a wink in my direction and gets out of the car. But before she can get too far away I roll down my window and call her back.

"hey Peyton, don't forget to look hot tomorrow!"

"you got it"

"and that means no leather jacket"

"What?" yeah I knew she would have a problem with that.

"alright fine, you can wear your leather jacket, but you have to wear your tightest jeans!"

"yes your majesty" she says and gives me a curtsy.

"nice to know you finally learned my name" I say smugly.

"get lost, ya loser!" she says with a smile. I give her a wave and take my leave. Things might actually turn out good for me.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Seriously this girl should learn how to lock her door. I mean what if an axe murderer came into her house, or worse, Dan. Wow, that would be scary. Anyways, I'm heading over to Peyton's this morning to make sure she looks good. Today _is_ the day I come out, well technically it's the day _we_ come out. But what ever. I walk up the stairs and I'm kind of curious as to why I don't hear music. I always hear her music. I love her music, because it's the exact same kind of music I listen to.

I peep inside of her room and it's as quiet as a grave yard, creepy. It's right about now I realize Peyton is still sleeping. Aw look at her all bundled up underneath the covers. Everything's covered, everything from the neck down that is. She looks like she's in a cocoon. I slide into the bed next to her just watching her, I wonder how long it's going to take her to wake up. Seconds later I see her eyes start to flutter open. Her eyes are barely open when I open my mouth to say something but I'm cut off by a loud shrill scream.

Peyton's screamed at the shock of someone else in her bed and seemingly rolled right off the edge. I watch in pure enjoyment as I see her body fall to the floor. I prop my self up on one elbow and look at her body tangled in the sheets, on the floor.

"good morning" I say cheerfully.

"I hate you" is all she can say. I get up off the bed and walk around to where she still lies. "really, I'm fine, don't bother to ask or anything"

"come on" I say ignoring her comment and offering her my hand to grab. She gets a hold of it and I pull her up.

"what are you doing in my bed at 6:59am?" she asks glancing at her alarm clock.

"waiting for you to wake up" Just then her alarm clock strikes 7:00am and starts ringing. Without even looking at the clock she stares at me and slams her fist down to turn it off, and then falls back onto her bed.

"oh no, no no. You're not going back to sleep now, we have to get you ready"

"me?" she complains. "Haley said that _you _have to look hot, not me"

"yes, but you and me, we're a couple, we have to look hot together." I say trying to pull her back up.

"If I break up with you can I go back to sleep?" She asks as I finally get her to stand.

"nope. Shower. Now" I say stripping her of her blankets and sending her into her bathroom.

20 minutes later she steps back out with wet hair and in small towel. I do a little cat-whistle and she rolls her eyes.

"now that you're finally done I was thinking this shirt, and these jeans oh and these shoes-"

"-I am not wearing heels to school" she objects.

"oh come on, everyone's doing it!"

"what are you? The typical teenager from a smoking commercial. I'm not wearing heels, they kill my feet!"

"fine wear your old, ugly sneakers" I say tossing them on the floor. "anyways, about accessories-"

"-I don't do accessories" she plainly says. I drop the necklaces I had in my hand back into her dresser.

"fine" I give in. "now about your hair…"

"what's wrong with my hair?"

"well I was thinking we could straighten it a little…" I say as I reach my hand out to touch her hair, but she grabs me by the wrist and stops any motion.

"the hair, does not change" This girl is picky.

"fine!" I throw my hands up in defeat. "wear your band T, and your tight jeans and your smelly converse and your hot leather jacket! I don't care!"

"great! That was the outfit I was going to wear today anyways" damn her and her jedi mind tricks.

"I hate you"

"ah, no you don't" she says back with a smirk. "you can't, I'm your girlfriend, the only one you got" Now I really hate her, I just can't say it out loud. "plus, you called my leather jacket hot" she says with a smirk. Did I say that? What ever. It's leather, leather is hot.

"can you just get dressed" I say looking at her as I take a seat on her bed.

"well… are you going to get out?" she asks hesitantly and I smirk.

"why, do you have _body issues_?"

"no, I love my body, thank you"

"great, than love your body all the way into those clothes because we're running out of time" I say. She sticks her tongue out at me and I stick mine back out at her.

"fine, just try not to get turned on and all…" she says jokingly.

"don't flatter yourself"

I see her walk over to her dresser and pull out some of her unmentionables. Which I never really understood the word, but now's not the time. Hot naked girl, 12 o'clock. She puts on her underwear underneath the towel and turns around so her back is facing me. She drops the towel and oh my god, she is a lot hotter than I thought. Where has she been hiding this body?

With her bare back and almost completely revealing ass, I _am _getting turned on. She puts on her bra and turns to me. I think she just said something.

"what?" maybe it'll actually go through my head the second time.

"I said, can you hand me my jeans?"

"oh" I say all flustered, I toss her the jeans and she puts them on, she grabs her shirt and pulls it over her head. She picks up her bag and throws her leather jacket around one shoulder.

"ready to go hot stuff?" she says putting one arm around my waist.

"you know it, sexy" I say back as we head out her bedroom door.

"oh my god Peyton, I can't do this" I say as we watch the student body enter through the front doors.

"what?! 10 minutes ago you were all for this."

"yeah, that was 10 minutes ago! A lot can change in 10 minutes!"

"apparently"

"okay, look how about we come out tomorrow?!" yeah that sounds like a better idea.

"no"

"what? Why not? I get to decide"

"Rachel, you know if you push it back a day, you're just going to keep pushing it further and further back, and eventually you're not going to get anywhere."

"how do you know that?"

"look, that's not important. What is important is that you do this for _yourself_" I let out a groan as I watch more and more students enter the building. It's just more and more people who will know my secret. "hey, hey hey" she coaxes me. "what happened to the confident girl who ruled the school?"

"ruled? I still do rule this school!"

"exactly! Where's that girl? Because right about now all I'm seeing is some scared little lesbian too afraid to tell her friends who she really is. I remember a time when you could walk up to the head cheerleaders and perform your little lap dance routine-"

"-that was not a lap dance routine!" I cut her off.

"what ever, but _that _girl… _that _girl wasn't afraid of anything. Where'd she go?"

Damn her and her jedi mind tricks.

"alright, let's get this over with" I say grabbing my bag and opening my door.

"aw, that's my girl" she says throwing one arm around me. "and don't worry, I'm sure with what we've got planned half the school is going to love us"

"oh, and why is that?"

"because half the school are guys" never really thought of it that way. We walk up to the doors and she grabs my hand. I take a deep breath and Peyton looks over at me.

"I'm here for you" she promises me and give my hand a small squeeze. And it's weird, because in that small squeeze I fell slightly better.

We open the doors and walk through the halls, hand in hand, conquering all, just like she said. We walk down the all and into the busiest area, still holding hands. People moving out of the way just so the both of us could walk side by side. We're getting the _looks_ from everyone, the type of look that says 'what the hell are they doing?' and it's killing me. But not once does Peyton lessen her grip on my hand. I look over at her, and it's like nothing's bothering her. People think I'm confident and strong, but in reality, I'm nothing compared to this girl beside me.

We walk to the middle of the hall and we can see Nathan, Haley, Mouth and Lucas all smiling at us. They're actually pretty great people. All of our friends are supporting us, all of them but Brooke. She's beside Lucas, probably doubting that we're actually going to do this.

Peyton and I stop in the middle of everything and she turns and faces me. People in the hall actually stop to see what we're going to do. It's something about this moment that has an odd effect on me. All of a sudden I feel like a jolt of confidence is surging through my body. I look up into Peyton's green eyes and close mine. This is it.

Without another movement I feel Peyton's lips down on mine and with my eyes clothes it's like we're not in school. It's like we're just in front of Brooke, making her jealous.

I bring my hands to Peyton's head to hold her closer as she puts her hands on my waist. From around us all I hear are the cat calls and the gasps, and the whispering behind our backs. But it doesn't matter because this is who I am and I'm not changing for anyone.

I feel Peyton pull back and a little too soon for my liking, but I open my eyes anyways. We see our friends have spread themselves out amongst the hall way just as planned.

And just like we asked, Nathan starts the slow clap from behind someone's back, so no one knows who it is. Soon Lucas, Haley and Mouth all slowly join in. Within seconds more people are joining and then it seems everyone is clapping all around us. I thank god that I have such a smart pretend girlfriend.

I glance over at Brooke who is barely clapping, but still looking at us. I glance over at Lucas who sees Brooke and immediately has a frown on his face. Before anything else could happen the bell rings and students start to disappear into their classrooms. We give our friends a quick hug and we all head to our period 1 class. Peyton, Brooke, Mouth and I all have the same class so I thought we would walk together.

"you guys coming?" Mouth asks. I look back and see Lucas talking to Brooke around the corner.

"um, I'll catch up with you guys in a minute" I say and Peyton and Mouth head on into the class room. I walk to the corner, but stay behind it so that Lucas and Brooke don't see me. Everyone else has gone to their class and the halls are empty. I stop moving so I can hear what they're saying.

"Brooke, are you okay?"

"fine" she replies in a not-so-fine tone.

"then what's going on with you? It's like you don't even care about Rachel and Peyton."

"I do…"

"really cause you could have fooled me" he says as he starts to get angry. "look, Brooke I don't know what problem you have with them, but you better get over it. They are your friends and they need as much support as they can get!"

"well what if I don't want to support them?" she snaps back.

"are you serious? You don't support them?!"

"I don't know" she says through gritted teeth.

"Brooke, I grew up without a complete family. So I relied on my friends _a lot_. My friends are one of the most important things to me and I will _not_ turn my back on them. But if you can't support them for who they are, I don't think I can be with you…" oh my freakin' god! Is he breaking up with her?!

"what?" she whispers.

"either learn to accept our friends for who they are, or learn to accept being single" he says and walks off. I feel kind of bad for Lucas, because it's obvious he really does love Brooke, but he has priorities. The worst thing about this is that he doesn't even know the real reason why Brooke isn't happy. It's not that she's homophobic or something it's just it's her best friend and me who are getting together. I quickly run towards my class, knowing Brooke was coming too. I enter the class room and walk to my seat, I know I'm late.

"Ms. Gattina, you're late"

"I know, sorry!" I say taking my seat beside Peyton. Aw look, Mouth and Peyton switched seats for me.

"don't let it happen again" just then Brooke walks in. "Ms. Davis" he says less than enthralled.

"I know, I'm late, I'm sorry, it won't happen again" she says in a not so happy mood. But then again, she's on the brink of losing her boyfriend so I wouldn't be too happy if I were her either. She sits down next to Mouth, barely noticing it's him and not Peyton.

I stare at Brooke intently and Peyton must have noticed because she just nudged me.

"are you okay?"

"yeah. Actually I'm better than okay" I whisper. "Brooke and Lucas almost broke up in the hall way."

"what?"

"yeah, Lucas said, if Brooke couldn't support his friends he couldn't be with her"

"whoa"

"yeah" I nod.

"so what did Brooke say?"

"nothing, he just kind of left after that. So what do we do now? Because I think now is probably our best time to strike"

"uh, yeah… right. We'll ask Haley at lunch" I couldn't help but notice the hint of sadness in her voice. I don't even know why she's sad. I mean if Brooke and Lucas are about to break up, it's good for her. I mean once Brooke's free, he is too. It's a win-win situation.

"okay"

It's lunch time and Peyton and I are sitting at a lunch table outside, waiting for Nathan and Haley to show up. I'm sitting with my back to her side as she has one arm wrapped around me, the other arm feeding me a French fry every so often.

"you know, I could get use to this whole pretend girlfriend thing" I say as I eat another French fry from her hands.

"I bet you could"

"oh, here comes Nathan and Haley" they take a seat in front of us, of course smiling.

"look at you two go" Nathan comments. We just smile and Peyton feeds me again.

"so listen, we have a situation on our hands" I say sitting up properly.

"uh oh" Haley says jokingly.

"ha ha" I reply. "okay, so earlier I over heard-"

"-eavesdropped" Peyton coughed out.

"shut up, emo barbie" I say making Nathan and Haley laugh. "as I was saying, I _over heard_ Lucas and Brooke talking in the hallway after our little pubic display of affection, and Lucas was getting all mad at Brooke because she wasn't happy with us, and he threatened to break up with her if she doesn't support us more"

"really?" Haley asks, glancing towards Peyton, who seems to be more interested in fries than the conversation.

"yeah, totally…" I say trying to peel my eyes off of Peyton. "so what should I do?"

"um…uh…" Haley seems to be at a loss for words. But she's staring at Peyton.

"am I missing something?" I ask out loud.

"no!" Haley and Peyton reply at the same time. I look at Nathan to see if he knows anything but he just shrugs his shoulders at me.

"so then what should I do?"

"um… I don't know" Haley replies.

"what do you mean, you don't know? You're full of these brilliant ideas and now you just conveniently run out? What's going on?"

"nothing…" Haley says quietly, not looking up at any of us. "look, I have one last thing, but after that I'm done"

"alright, tell me…" I guess I could understand why Haley doesn't want to help anymore, I mean Lucas is her best friend and all.

"okay, so here's the plan… you get Brooke alone some time before school ends like in the bathroom or something…"

"uh huh…"

"talk to her a bit, maybe do a little flirting and if she tries to kiss you…"

"yeah…?"

"um, let her kiss you, but tell her you want to be in a relationship with her."

"and what if she doesn't want to be in a relationship with me?"

"then I give up. If she doesn't want to be in a relationship, that's it. I don't know what else you could do" Haley says slightly aggravated.

"okay well then I better make it a damn good conversation." I say jokingly. I look over to Peyton, and she still has her head down.

"hey, are you okay?" I ask nudging her a little. She comes up with a small smile.

"yeah, I'm fine. But uh, I think you better get going. Brooke's heading off to the bathroom" she says nodding her head in the direction of the brunette entering the school.

"ooh, wish me luck!" I say getting off of the table and jogging to the doors.

I hear a faint "good luck" from Peyton, but I don't bother to turn around. I run into the school and see Brooke just enter the girls bathroom. I walk in right after her and see her fixing her make up in the mirror. She sees me in the mirror and stops.

"hi" I say quietly.

"hey" she says unemotionally. "so you and Peyton are really going pretty far with this thing, huh?"

"yeah, she's a great girlfriend" I say, but I hear Brooke scoff.

"oh please, I know about you two" oh shit. Shit, shit, shit.

"what?" that's right, play dumb, Rachel.

"you and Peyton - trying to make me jealous. It's kind of obvious"

"who told you? Was it Nathan? Because if it was I'm going to-"

"-it wasn't Nathan. I kind of figured it out on my own. I mean its not that hard to see. You confess your love for me, then later that night you have a new girlfriend. Let alone Peyton"

"that obvious huh?" I say leaning against the wall.

"oh yeah."

"so what does that mean?"

"what does what mean?"

"well I've spent the passed 4 days trying to win you back, has it worked?"

"what about Peyton?"

"what about her? I mean she's been a great pretend girlfriend, and a great friend to me, but you're still the one I want."

"oh wow" what? What now? "you don't see it do you?"

"see what?" I see Brooke let out a little laugh.

"the looks, the small glances, the delicate touching? You don't see it?"

"what are you talking about Brooke?"

"I'm talking about Peyton"

"what about her?"

"Are you really that dense?! Peyton is in love with you!"

"what? That's crazy" _she couldn't be… could she?_

"is it really? Why would she agree to be your girlfriend then?"

"because if I was with you, she could be with Lucas" I say. This time Brooke let's out a louder laugh.

"yeah, that's why she admitted to the whole school that she was gay"

"she was just trying to help me" I try to rationalize.

"Rachel, if Peyton wanted to be with Lucas she wouldn't have said she was gay…"

I take a second to step back and realize what just happened. Does Peyton really like me? I mean I thought it was all for show, I didn't think she would actually fall for me.

"but then why would she help me be with you?"

"because it meant that she got to play your girlfriend for a little while. Probably hoping it would turn into more."

"… b-but what about you?"

"what about me?"

"after all this time do you still love Lucas?"

"Rachel, look you have to understand Lucas and I will always be Lucas and I. Rachel, I could have loved you, but what we were doing wasn't serious, it was just playing around and it was great, it was, but it's nothing like what Lucas and I have, and it's nothing like what you and Peyton have."

"but, I don't-"

"I know. So now you see what it's like to be on the other side"

"the other side of what?" I ask.

"someone loves you, but you don't love them back" _she's right. I'm just like her._ "but Rachel, don't screw it up. I've seen you and Peyton together. You two work. You both have terrible taste in music, you are so much alike, and she's one of the few people who hate you"

"oh, thanks" I say sarcastically.

"look, Rachel, don't let me hold you back. What we had was nice, but what you two have is real" Brooke says heading towards the door.

"so we never had a chance?" I ask, right before she leaves.

"not even a little bit" she says with a smirk and exits the bathroom. _So then, what do I do now?_

**Alright, guys I hope you're liking the story so far. But only one chapter left.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

I've been standing in this bathroom for 2 minutes and 36 seconds now. Still wondering what I should do. And I can't believe it's taken me this long to figure it out. I can't believe Peyton's in love with me. I need to talk to her. I exit the bathroom and head back out to the quad where I see Nathan and Haley sitting at the table.

"where's Peyton?" I ask out of breath.

"she went home, why?" Haley asks.

"I-I just need to talk to her about… something" I doubt they even know about it.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea" Haley says.

"what's that supposed to mean?" it seems I've been saying this line a lot.

"it means Peyton's my friend, I don't want her getting hurt, and she's been through a lot especially with you and Brooke…" It's at this moment I realize something.

"She knew about me and Brooke didn't she? Before I told her everything, she knew I was sleeping with Brooke"

"…why do you think she chose you over Brooke?" Haley asks me hypothetically, and I don't give an answer, instead I rush off towards my car. I really have to talk to Peyton now.

I get in my car and drive away not even caring that I have classes later this afternoon. I make it to Peyton's house and go inside not even bothering to knock on the door. It's not like she'd answer anyways. I quickly run up the stairs and peek my head inside her room. She's on the bed lying down, and sniffling. Well she's probably crying but I can't see her face.

"hey blondie" I say entering the room. I see her quickly jolt up and rub furiously at her face to get the tears to go away. I see her eyes are a little red, and teary and the rest of her face is wet. She must think I'm stupid or blind, or both.

"hey! How'd it go with Brooke?" she asks with a smile, but I know it's fake.

"pretty good actually, we got to talking and-"

"-Rachel, can I tell you something?" is this what I think it is?

"of course"

Just as she's about to say whatever she planned on saying her cell phone starts ringing. She looks down at the screen and it must be someone important.

"hold on" she says getting up from the bed and just walking outside of the door. "hey Hales" she answers the phone. "…yeah she's here" Haley's probably telling her about the conversation we had no more than 10 minutes ago. I look around the room to stop myself from eavesdropping on their conversation and my eyes fall back to the familiar folder that Peyton told me to stay out of.

I wonder what's in it. I know she keeps her drawings in there. It's so tempting. But I mustn't. But I have to. I let my curiosity get the better of me and I quickly open the folder. I flip through the first couple of pages seeing a bunch of unfinished sketches. All of them of the same thing, each time progressing more and more towards completion.

The first one is of a girl, in black and white, only showing her back to the artist. The next one is of the same girl facing another girl, with no face. The next one is of the same girl facing a girl, with dark hair and a face like Brooke's. The next one is a sketch of a red head facing the girl who looks like Brooke. It's obvious it's me.

I finally get to the last one and it looks like it's finished. It's a red head, most likely me, holding Brooke's hand, but in this sketch - and only this sketch - I see a girl in the background behind Brooke.

It's Peyton.

The words at the bottom of the page say it all. 'why not me?' is etched into the page. It confirms it all. She really does love me. I just don't understand how I couldn't have seen it all before. And you know what? I think I love her back. I mean with Brooke it was great, the sex and all, but Peyton… I actually had fun with Peyton. Going to the beach, getting ice cream down on the Pierre, it was so different from what I would do with Brooke. It was so much better.

"I guess it's too late to stop you from looking at my sketches" I hear Peyton's voice from behind me. I close the folder and turn around.

"what did you want to talk about?" I ask, changing the subject. Not showing her any emotion or reaction to her sketches.

"right. It's just… you can't interrupt, it's… it's pretty important." I just nod and she takes it as her cue to continue. "okay, well being your 'girlfriend' has been great, and I'm really glad we're friends and all, but there's something I just kind of have to say before you say anything else" she says. I see her hands are starting to shake so I grab a hold of them and hold them down.

"calm down Peyton" she gives me a small smile and continues.

"okay, look, the passed few days have been great, it's been a long time since I've had that much fun. And see the thing is, I just… don't want it to end. Rachel, there's a lot of stuff I love about you, like the way you, and only you, have the same taste in music as me, or the fact that you still think I look hot even though I dress in grungy clothes, or how you don't care that I'm an emo cheerleader, but think I'm fun anyways. I love how you think Ice cream solves all relationship problems, and how you're not afraid to be who you are. You're so confident and I just wish I was as strong as you"

"you are Peyton, you are _so_ strong" I coax her. But she puts a finger up to stop me from talking. I can see more tears start to form in her eyes.

"Rachel, I love all of these things about you and more. I could go on for days just listing these things, but the bottom line is… that I love you. And I know you love Brooke and you're still hung up on her and everything, but I just had to say it."

She doesn't even bother to look up at me, fearing what I might say with my eyes.

"Peyton…" I try but she doesn't look at me. I grab her head with both hands and force her eyes to look at mine. I wipe away the tears with my thumbs as she tries to smile through it, but is having a really hard time. I don't bother saying anything as I just let my lips do the talking. I lean forward and press my lips to hers, soon enough she's pressing back and we're making out.

I pull back for air, and her eyes slowly flutter open.

"… I'm just sorry I didn't see it sooner" I say, not letting her head go. "Peyton, you've done so much for me, even though this entire time all I could talk about was being in love with Brooke. But I couldn't see what was in front of my eyes the whole time, and that's you. Peyton you are so wonderful. Brooke will always be that dream I'm chasing, but you're the reality I need. Peyton, you're the one I want."

She lets out a small laugh as more tears come down. "are you sure?"

I give her a little smile back as I nod my head. "I'm sure" I say right before I lean in for another kiss. We fall back onto her bed, with her arms around me and lips attached to mine.

_Here we lay_, together and happy.

The End.

**Okay, so there it is, I basically only put this up right now because I got a private message. So I hoped you all like it. The ending wasn't what I expected it to be, but the thing I was going for was that it all came in a full circle, how in the beginning Rachel was lying with Brooke, but in the end she was lying with Peyton. **

**- GraydonGirl**


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